


Settling In

by qwanderer



Series: Hear Me [16]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Unrepentant Fluff, the rest of the gang finds out that Tony and Loki are dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 02:54:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7667518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qwanderer/pseuds/qwanderer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the West Coast Avengers facility was ready but before the great migration took place, Tony, of course, threw a party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When the West Coast Avengers facility was ready but before the great migration took place, Tony, of course, threw a party. 

A cookout sort of thing this time, he thought, since compared to the Tower, the facility was so open and horizontal and had so much nice grass. And also, he kind of wanted this to feel more like a family thing. 

My gosh. Was he getting _settled?_ Pepper had always yearned for the day when Tony started to settle. But he didn't think she would have appreciated it this way. He still had his suits nearby, he had Extremis boiling under his skin, Friday in his ear and he was ready to go and be a hero at a moment's notice. 

He was just also the kind of guy who wanted to throw a party that would be appropriate for not just his adult friends and co-workers, but also Peter, Harley and his sister Katie, Cooper, Lila, Nathaniel, and what was the ant guy's kid called, Cassie? And the Samson kids, Eliza and Justin, who Bruce raved about, and... whoa. It seemed like all of a sudden Tony knew a lot of kids. 

He didn't feel the same need for loud music and hard alcohol and rambunctious stupidity that had once constituted his social life. He felt like he'd be just as happy to sit in the late afternoon sun with the love of his life by his side, watching the younger generations indulge in their own kind of rambunctious stupidity, instead. 

_Settled._

Huh. 

Well, and of course, there was the part where the love of his life was the Norse god of mischief, the same guy who'd thrown him out a window all those years ago. That didn't sound like getting settled. 

Except to someone who knew Loki as well as Tony did, someone who'd seen the man with his foster son, someone who'd spent hours and days just talking to him, about everything and nothing, while Tony worked on his cars, while they ate Chinese takeout sitting cross-legged on the bare garage floor, someone who'd seen how well Loki fit into something domestic and comfortable when a little space was made for him. 

It wasn't all they were, but it was important. 

Tony knew Loki so well, but he didn't know how to explain Loki to Pepper, to Natasha and Clint and Sam. 

So maybe he was a coward for wanting the little ones around when he tried to figure out how to say it, so maybe they'd make less of a scene. For wanting anyone and everyone he could call family there. Pepper was frightening. Natasha, equally so. The birds - well, not quite as much. But still. 

Tony wondered if Loki could get Jor to come. Jor would be even more of a conversation piece than Loki himself was, and it would be evidence of his talent with kids. 

Well, before he worried about that, he had to see if he could actually get _Pepper_ to agree to show up. 

* * *

"Is that you, Tony? Why are you calling and not texting or emailing or otherwise relaying a message via FRIDAY? Is this not business related? Are you okay? Are you drunk?" 

"Pep, I'm fine. I'm not drunk. ...Can you even get drunk when enhanced with Extremis? I never thought to ask. In any case I haven't had the opportunity to find out." 

"No, I can't, in fact, and it's very annoying... wait. Are you telling me that you used Extremis on yourself? Is that what you're trying to tell me? That you used experimental tech on yourself that almost killed me? Did you do this as some kind of... gesture?" 

"Okay, yes, I did the thing, but not because of you, okay? There was shit going down on Asgard and they wanted my help but I decided I needed a boost first. Good thing too, because the armor I brought was half gone by the time we won...." At a pained gasp from Pepper, Tony abruptly changed tacks. "But it's okay! I'm fine! And that's not actually why I'm calling. We're having a little get-together at the New York Avengers compound on the third and I'd really like you to be there." 

There was a long silence before Pepper said, "I'm not sure if it's a good idea for us to see each other socially right now." 

"Pepper, it's just as friends, I promise, in fact there's someone I want you to meet. Who I've been seeing. Seriously." 

"Really?" She sounded intrigued, pleased, and only slightly bitter. "In that case, Tony, I will definitely come." 

She sounded as if she was going to come prepared to warn someone away, whether it was for Tony's sake or their own. That might worry Tony, if it was anyone but Loki. But Loki... Tony thought Loki could handle the full force of Hurricane Pepper, if need be. 

Now, the question was, could Tony weather the full force of both of them combined? 

* * *

Tony happened to be deep in conversation with Roz about the weather control tech when Pepper arrived. He saw her look speculatively over at them, until Thor approached, all wide grin and muscles, and pulled her into a passionate kiss. Then Tony just smiled knowingly at Pepper, giving her a little head shake. 

"All right," she said, "who is it, then? Because that was actually my best guess. Unless... does that mean Jane's available now? Are you actually dating Jane Foster? Because that... that sounds like... chaos incarnate, is what that sounds like." 

"No, that actually means Jane Foster is _less_ available. But funny you should mention chaos incarnate...." 

"Who. Is. She. Tony." 

There was a tutting noise behind Tony's shoulder. "Such baseless assumptions," Loki said, wrapping an arm around Tony and smiling at Pepper. "It's as if you've never seen the way he flirts with Bruce before. Or Rhodey, even." 

Part of Tony's mind wanted to worry about this, but the rest of him just turned his head to smirk fondly up at Loki, let his nose brush Loki's cheek. 

Pepper blinked at him. The most visible sign of her agitation was Extremis's light shifting under her skin. 

"I assure you," Loki told her, "I mean neither the Earth, nor Tony, any harm. The master who sent me here to conquer, under the influence of the Mind Stone, is dead." 

"Very dead," Tony agreed. "We made sure of that." 

He watched Pepper's fingers unclench, watched her look around at where Bruce, Vision and Rhodey were manning the grills, where Wanda and Steve stood nearby, chatting and watching the three of them thoughtfully. Where Thor stood answering questions about Asgard for Harley and Katie, with only a smile for his brother and nary a qualm about the kids. The light went quiet, her pale skin even again. 

"Okay," she said. "Okay. I expect to wake up sometime soon, but okay." She visibly searched for a topic that would make more sense. "Tony, are you sure you want kids at one of your parties? Does Harley's mom know these two are here?" 

"Oh, yeah, definitely, in fact, she should be around here somewhere. And Clint's bringing his brood, and Scott, and probably Betty, if Bruce didn't chicken out and 'forget' to invite her and Len. Don't worry, no open bar and no agency invites. It's a family thing, I swear, Pep." 

Pepper narrowed his eyes at him. "And just suddenly this is your kind of party?" 

He shrugged. "It surprised the hell out of me, too." 

"Because you clearly haven't gotten less self-destructive." 

Tony wasn't sure whether she was referring to Extremis, the destruction of the suit he'd worn to Asgard, or Loki, but he supposed it didn't matter. 

"Pepper," he said, laying a hand on her arm, then he took a breath. He didn't know how to say this. 

"He is happier now," whispered Loki, watching Tony carefully, listening hard. "He is happier accepting that he is and always will be Iron Man, than he ever was trying to live up to the name of Tony Stark." 

Loki's voice was soft, fond and awed, and Tony leaned back into him, clutching his hand, and nodded. 

"He will go out and fight, every time, because this is what he fights to protect. His friends. His family. The world. The galaxy. These most precious things. And he needs no more distractions from how alone he is, because there is someone who understands. There is someone who hears him. Someone who knows him." 

All three of them had damp eyes, in the silence that left behind. Tony knew that Loki was speaking of himself, as well as of Tony. He turned in Loki's arms, enough to kiss him, sweet and raw and intense. To tell him all over again, to tell him how true it was. To tell him that there was someone who understood. 

"Oh, Tony," Pepper said a little brokenly, once they'd pulled back from the kiss. "You're really happy, aren't you?" 

"Yeah," he replied, not quite managing to look away from the spark and glow of Loki's delighted eyes. "Yeah, I am." 

"Okay," she said. "Okay." And she wandered off to talk to Rhodey. Probably to interrogate him about the whole thing. But that was fine. Rhodey knew them both as well as anyone else did, now. Anyone but each other. 


	2. Chapter 2

Scott showed up next, with Cassie in tow, and Tony greeted them, introducing himself and Loki, and at first, none of them were quite sure what to do with each other. Scott just kind of... blinked at Loki. Cassie, on the other hand, tilted her head, frowned thoughtfully and commented, "I'm pretty sure you're too tall." 

"For what?" Loki asked her. 

"For me to play with," Cassie said, like it was obvious. 

"Then that will need to be remedied," Loki said, and immediately shrank to her height, a younger version of himself. 

Cassie beamed at him. "I like you, you're funny," she told him, then took his hand and dragged him off to where Katie and Harley were throwing a frisbee. 

"Well that pretty much dispels all my doubts," Scott said. "She's got much better instincts than me." 

"Tempted to say the same," Tony said, grinning. "Didn't know much about you before except you're yet another reason to rewrite the law of conservation of mass in this crazy galaxy, and you'd blindly follow Cap into battle, but hey, I can't really judge on that count." He gave a deceptively nonchalant shrug. "Easy mistake to make." 

"Oh, I pretty much do everything blindly," Scott agreed. "It was your guys that got the charges dropped, right? Thanks for that. And for, you know, not judging. My life's kind of been a series of missteps and disasters of varying degrees, it's nice to get a break from that." 

Tony snorted. "Sounds familiar," he admitted. 

They stood watching the kids and Loki play in companionable silence for a while. Harley bowed out shortly after Cassie and Loki joined, now that there was someone else happy to play with his sister, and walked up to Tony (who was disoriented for a moment because he was just way too tall, and Loki was way too short). 

"So magic's a thing?" Harley said, raising his eyebrows. 

Tony's face twisted up. "Well, kind of? Lokes is a shape shifter, which really, the Hulk is too, and science made Hulk, even if science has no idea what the fuck it did there." 

"Okay, but he's telling them all about the spells he can cast." 

"It's a language thing. Arthur C. Clarke, alien species, biomechanics, all that jazz. He knows how he does it. It's a science." 

Harley scoffed. "But you don't know, right? So it's magic." 

"Only a matter of time," Tony said with a scowl. 

"Well, hey, I've got very little idea how my super suit works," Scott contributed. "Does that mean I can do magic?" 

"Yeah, but are you a scientist?" Harley asked. 

"I'm an electrical engineer, not a quantum physicist," Scott replied. "It's not my job to know. No one can know everything." 

Harley squinted at Tony as if expecting him to disagree. 

"True," Tony admitted. "I mean, I like to know how things work, but I've got whole labs of people doing the science to help me figure it all out. Scientists figure out how things work. Engineers actually do stuff with it." 

"Engineer fist bump," Scott offered, holding out his hand. 

It should have been awkward, but Tony's suavely enthusiastic response made it work. At least he thought so. Harley rolled his eyes. 

"Suck it up, kid," Tony told him. "Gotta make up for lost time in the hanging-out-with-hopelessly-uncool-dad-types department." 

Harley didn't try very hard to hide his smile. 

* * *

Then the hordes arrived - Sam, Nat and Clint and Laura and their tiny agents, Betty and Len and theirs. Loki left his small shape and let Cassie and Katie commune with the younger new arrivals as he went to stand by Tony's side, arm curled around him again. 

Steve had probably warned Sam, because Sam looked at them thoughtfully, but without surprise. 

Tony was worried about Clint and Natasha, but.... 

"Huh," said Clint. "So that's a thing. ...They would suit each other, wouldn't they?" 

Natasha squinted at them for a moment. "Yeah, I can see it," she said. 

"Same," said Laura where she stood with her arm hooked through Clint's. "They're cute." 

Sam frowned at the three. "Really?" he asked. "After all the stories I've heard about this guy? I'd think you guys...." 

"Oh, I've negotiated with much worse men than Loki," Natasha told him. Sam raised his eyebrows. "He left Clint's children out of the fight," she continued. "He didn't just keep the secret. He told me how to bring Clint back, make sure he came home to them." 

Clint gave her a fond look. "You're always working both sides, aren't you, Nat?" 

She shrugged. "A little," she allowed. 

They'd now drifted close enough that Loki could comfortably join the conversation. "I have a foster son," he told them. "I know what it is to love the helpless. I needed Agent Barton but I would never have taken advantage of his children. Not while it was in my power to spare them. I heard her plea when she came to me on the Helicarrier. And I answered as clearly as I could, while my masters still watched." 

Natasha smirked. "I got the message. I split his skull." 

"Yeah, you did," Clint said ruefully, and Laura ruffled his hair comfortably. 

Sam frowned at Natasha. "Why didn't you say if you knew he was being leaned on? That he was someone's pawn?" 

Nat scoffed. "Everyone's someone's pawn, Sam," she told him. "Sometimes we don't do what they expect us to do, but that's the way this game works." 

Tony breathed a laugh. "That explains so much." 

"Yeah, but I thought you kind of wanted to shoot him in the face?" Sam asked Clint. 

Clint shrugged. "While he was still being influenced, yeah," he said, "there was clearly someone really scary pulling his strings and I wanted to cut them, but after what Hulk did to 'im, I figured that just about did the job." 

"Giving people second chances is kind of Clint's specialty," Natasha commented, her eyes flicking to Wanda. "Especially people who are pushed into being weapons by outside circumstances." 

"Yeah, okay," said Sam. 

He was the most like Steve, out of all of them, growing up as a little bit of an outsider but only more brimming with self-determination because of it. Being gaslighted, being brainwashed, being controlled and used, those were never on his radar for himself. But he'd learned enough in his VA training, then helping POWs, then working with Avengers, to know how profound the effect could be. And he couldn't argue with their view of the world, no matter how different it was from his own. It was built on experience. 

Sam had always recognized himself in Steve, even if they didn't always agree. If they'd recognized themselves in Loki, who was he to argue? 

* * *

Peter arrived late, and in his Spiderman gear. This might have been the superhero inner circle, but he was still pretty attached to his secret identity remaining a secret. 

"How are you gonna eat?" Clint asked. 

Peter rolled the bottom half of his mask up, and grinned. 

"Works, I guess," Clint replied, sounding reluctantly impressed. 

* * *

T'Challa didn't bat an eyelash when Thor introduced Loki as his brother and fellow member of the ruling council of Asgard. They discussed benefits of a traditional monarchy versus a more democratic system, and Loki floated the idea of holding elections for a fourth and perhaps fifth council position. 

"Asgard has been a monarchy for so long. Who would dare reach for that power," Thor asked, "who would not then abuse it?" 

"It is not the who," T'Challa commented. "Any man may be corrupted by power. It is the how, and the when, that you can influence." 

Thor turned to Loki, to see what he would say about it. 

Instead of any more philosophical answer, Loki said, "I rather hope Volstagg might run." 

Thor frowned as he considered that. 

* * *

Wanda and Steve walked the perimeter of the party, side-by side, talking quietly. 

"You have trusted me with your own mind," Wanda said to him. "Do you regret that?" 

"No," Steve said. "Not at all. It upset me, yes, but Wanda... it was a gift. I've never... understood anyone else, quite like that." 

"Then," said Wanda, "perhaps you would consider entrusting the mind of your friend to my care?" 

"You mean Bucky?" 

"Yes," she agreed. "To be fair, I have known more of causing controlling influences than removing them, but Loki has been teaching me what he knows of resisting them, and with Vision and the Mind Stone at my disposal, and Tony's research on memory manipulation... I have been practicing." She looked him in the eye. "I trust my skills, as they are now, enough to say that I will at least not do any more harm to him." 

He looked at her for a long moment. 

"Yeah," he said at last. "I'd like it if we could try that. But you might have to talk him into it. He was pretty stubborn about going under, after everything." 

Wanda smiled at him. "I think I'm looking forward to that challenge," she said. 

* * *

Bruce had just hefted Justin onto his shoulders and was giving him a walking tour of the party when he turned and there was Natasha, who had Nate on her hip. 

"Oh," Bruce said intelligently. 

"Bruce," said Natasha, seeming equally wrong-footed. "Hello." 

"Uh, hi," Bruce managed. 

They stared at each other for another moment, and then Natasha's mouth quirked up, and Bruce gave a tiny smile in answer, and everything was at least a little bit okay. 

"Bruce, you've never met Clint's youngest, have you?" Natasha asked, indicating the squirmy and curious baby she held. "Nathaniel Pietro Barton. Nate." 

"Hello," Bruce said softly. "Hello, Nathaniel." 

The baby smiled back sunnily. 

"And who's this?" Natasha asked of the toddler clinging to Bruce's curls. 

"I'm Justin Bruce Samson, an' I'm three!" 

Natasha laughed, quietly delighted. "I'm Natasha," she said, holding out a hand for him to shake a few fingers of. "I like your name." She raised an eyebrow at Bruce. 

"He's Betty and Len's," he answered the unspoken question. "But they really do want me to be part of the family too. I'm not sure if I'm quite there yet." 

"I kind of think I know the feeling." 

Bruce shook his head. "Natasha, I saw you with Cooper and Lila. They treat you like a third parent. You've been part of that family for a long time." 

"It's not the same," she said, almost a whisper. "It's not ever going to be the same." 

"Well," he said, "we don't every time get what we want, but just maybe, what we've got is amazing enough to make up for that." 

Natasha looked down at Nate, who grinned up at her. 

"Yeah," she said, smiling softly. "Yeah, maybe it is." 

* * *

Eventually Tony and Loki found themselves sitting side-by-side in the light of the setting sun, watching as Peter, Harley, Cooper and Eliza animatedly discussed plans for a pumpkin trebuchet, and Justin, Katie, Lila and Cassie gathered around Bruce, who had Nathaniel on his lap, and who was patiently explaining to them how water droplets refracted light to make rainbows. 

Tony shared a glance with Loki, a smile. 

Yeah, Tony could settle down, if it meant having all this, and the galaxy, too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that's it! Thanks for reading, and if you enjoyed, please consider visiting my [original writing blog](http://irenewendywode.tumblr.com).


End file.
